Entangled in Destiny

Chapter 1

Doyoung was six when he first went to Japan. His grandfather, and only grandparent alive, had worked and later on settled in Japan with his family until Doyoung's mom went back to Korea to study. She decided to stay in Korea permanently after she found her soulmate and got married. When Doyoung's grandmother died, he was still in his mother's womb. His grandfather returned to Korea and helped in raising him. Now, they went to Japan for a vacation, staying in his grandparents' old vacation house by the Kotohiki beach in Kyoto.

His family members were all by the beach, eating snacks and chatting with one another. Doyoung, on the other hand, was playing at the sea by himself. He was neither hungry nor interested in chatting with his older female cousins about their favorite idol groups. He would play or chat with his brother who was only two years older than him but he stayed behind in the house to finish his summer assignment.

Doyoung was watching his grandfather chat with his father and didn't notice that a huge and strong wave was coming, knocking him off balance and hauling him to a deeper part of the sea. He immediately started panicking and thrashing wildly, trying to keep himself afloat despite the waves. Suddenly, an arm pulled him by his left wrist and held him up, letting him calm down and breathe properly again.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" the questions barely registered in Doyoung's mind since he was still in shock and he barely knows Japanese. He looked up to the boy but before he had the chance to answer, he heard his grandfather calling him and waddling through the water towards them. He immediately picked Doyoung up and confirmed that he was fine before he turned to talk to the Japanese boy.

It turns out that the boy, who was the same age as Doyoung, was from Osaka. His family came to Kyoto for a vacation and was renting a neighboring vacation house. His mother came after she heard the commotion and was currently talking to the boy, 'Yu-kun' as she called him, and Doyoung's grandfather.

"Doie-ah," he heard his grandfather call him so he excused himself from his cousins and went to him. "Have you thanked him already?" he asked, smiling. "Ah, I don't think I did, grandpa," he answered, then turned to the boy, "Thank you, Yu-kun. Ah, I can call you that, right?" His grandfather translated this for him and the other boy answered, "Yeah, Doie-ah," before turning to Doyoung's grandfather and asking, "Jii-san, can we play together? Not in the sea though, he might still be scared." "Sure, take care of my grandson, okay, Yu-kun?"

For the next few days, Doyoung spent a lot of time with him, playing by the beach or at their vacation houses. Donghyun, his older brother, would also join them from time to time. Even though they can't properly communicate with one another, the two boys went through just fine by signaling to each other or drawing things on the sand.

__________

The next time Doyoung went to Japan was when he was thirteen, but this time, they came with a tragic reason. It seems that Doyoung's grandfather knew that he was going to die soon. He went to Japan a few weeks back with plans to visit his wife's grave and meet their old friends. They were supposed to eat together but he didn't show up nor answered their calls the whole day. Worried, his friends checked on him at their old vacation house and found him peacefully dead on his bed. He always said that he wanted to be buried with his wife, and now his wish would be granted.

Doyoung didn't say a word during the entire trip and even after they reached the funeral homes where his grandfather's remains lie. He was practically raised by him since both of his parents were usually out at work and he had a big impact on his life. He was shocked when he heard the news and he still can't believe it even now.

"Are you Doyoung-ah?" an old man, he recognizes as his grandfather's Korean friend, asked him and he just nodded in reply. "I heard a lot about you from your grandpa, he really adores you so much. I'm really sorry for your loss," he said, then handed a small box to Doyoung, adding, "Here. When we found your grandpa, he had this at his bedside table. We thought we should give it to you."

Doyoung looked at the box and saw his name written on the lid. He opened it and found an envelope and a smaller box. He took the envelope first and found a letter addressed to him, written by his grandfather. He read it and realized that it was his final goodbye to him. At the end of the letter, his grandfather wrote that the smaller box contains a special gift that he created himself. Doyoung didn't realize that he was crying until a tear dropped into the paper, smudging the ink and leaving a trace. He immediately wiped his tears with his sleeves and opened the smaller box finding his grandfather's gift, a necklace. A thin red braided string was serving as the necklace and hanging from it was a pendant, a wire bent to form a small and abstract Sakura flower.

Doyoung decided to wear the necklace before asking permission from his mother to take a walk and leaving the funeral homes, wandering in the streets of an unfamiliar country. His feet lead him to a small park and he immediately went to sit under a Sakura tree whose flowers were currently in full bloom. He closed his eyes and reminisced about his grandfather. He has always told Doyoung about the legend of the "red string of fate" and has always brought him to view Sakura flowers in Korea. Doyoung knew that these inspired his grandfather's gift to him because he loved doing both of them. Unconsciously, he started crying once again, feeling his tears roll down his cheeks. He was about to wipe it with his sleeves when someone spoke to him in Korean, he's surprised, "Here, wipe your tears with this." He opened his eyes and saw a boy standing in front of him handing him a handkerchief. He was wearing both a mask and a hat so Doyoung couldn't see his face at all. Still, he accepted the handkerchief and wiped his tears with it.

"Why are you crying?" the boy asked, sitting a few feet away from him under the Sakura tree. "Just reminiscing old memories, my grandpa died recently," he didn't even know why he answered but he did, feeling familiar with the stranger's presence. "Oh, sorry." "It's fine. Wait, how did you know I was Korean?" "Hmm... Instincts?"

They just stayed quiet for a few minutes before the stranger's phone rang. He talked to someone over the phone in Japanese and Doyoung didn't bother trying to translate it. Seconds later, the call ended and the boy stood up. "Sorry, I need to go now," he said. "Ah, your handkerchief, how-" "It's fine, you can keep it. I'm sorry again for your loss. Take care," he cut Doyoung off, and in a small voice in Japanese, "see you next time, Doie-ah" before leaving Doyoung alone in the park.

__________

Soulmate marks work like this. It appears on one's eighteenth birthday, commonly in the wrist, but it can also be in any part of the body, with your soulmate having it at the same place. It's commonly related to hobbies, likes, talents, or even professions of the pair. Once the soulmates recognize each other as such, the initials of the other's name will appear near the soulmate mark. Even though many people search for their soulmates, there are also some who do not care about the soulmate bond at all. Non-soulmate relationships were pretty common as well as platonic soulmate relationships.

Doyoung was turning eighteen in a few minutes and he and his friends, Taeyong, Johnny, and Ten, were all huddled up in his bed waiting for midnight. Two years ago, he watched how the soulmate mark appeared on his brother's wrist and a year ago, he watched his older friends have it on Taeyong's lower abdomen and Johnny's shoulder blade.

Few seconds before midnight, Ten was constantly checking him everywhere from his wrist to under his shirt. When the clock hit midnight, he felt something tingling on his left arm. He raised it up and they watched as a red line traced itself on it. It circles the base of his pinky finger before running through the back of his hand, wrapping itself towards his wrist, and stopping inside it to form an abstract Sakura flower, completely the same pattern as the pendant of the necklace his grandfather gave him.

Doyoung loved it. Then he hated it.